Boys Will Be Boys
by jigenslove
Summary: Something strange happens to Professor Snape, leaving Harry the responsible one.


"Well, this is fun."

"Potter, you and I have two very different definitions of the word 'fun'." responded Snape.

"Big surprise there." muttered Harry. "So, how do we to get out of here?"

Snape sighed and shook his head, "We don't. These catacombs were designed to keep people out of the castle, they are full of dead ends, wrong turns and traps."

"The great Professor Snape doesn't know what to do? Luckily, Sirius and my dad knew what they were doing, we can just use the map to-" Harry looked at the Maurader's map, there stood two sets of footprints, Harry Potter and Severus Snape, but they seemed to be in the middle of nothing.

"Somehow, I doubt your father and his friends knew about this place, and even if they did, I think even they would have been smart enough to stay away, unlike some people." He glared at Harry.

"Hey, I fell though the portrait, you followed me in."

"Yes." he said, the words seething with disdain. "The next time I see a student fall through a mysterious hole, I shall be sure to walk away."

"Where are we anyway?"

"As, I'm sure you are painfully aware, Salazar Slytherin, although a great wizard, was not a trusting man."

Harry rolled his eyes, "That's the understatment of the year. Wait, you mean-"

"Yes, in addition to the Chamber of Secrets, he also built this," Snape paused, "labyrinth, so to speak."

"But, if it's on Hogwarts grounds, why isn't it on the map?"

"It's bewitched, much as the room of requirement is."

"How do you know so much about this place?" asked Harry suspiciously.

Snape stared into Harry's eyes, "Potter, why is it that everytime something bad happens to you, it must be my fault?" Harry stammered, and looked at the ground, 'Why hadn't I tried harder with the occlumency lessons?' "In any case, all of the teachers know of this room, though not where it is, much like the chamber itself. It seems as though we will have to work together, Potter, if we hope to leave this place alive."

Harry loathed the thought of doing anything with Snape, but the thought of dying down here with him was even less tolerable. "What do we do first?"

"First, we set some ground rules. One, I am still your Professor and I still expect your full respect, though after years of having you as a student, one would think I'd have given up on that pipedream. Second, you may have been lucky in the past when dealing with dark magic and creatures, but I am far older than you, and far better schooled in those matters, when I tell you something, I expect you to heed my words. Third, stay close to me. I don't need you to go wandering off while my back is turned. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, _sir_."

"Good. Now, keep your wand handy, Potter, Merlin knows what we may run into." Snape held his wand out and it glowed brightly, they started down a long dark tunnel that seemed to lead to the right.

They had been walking for what seemed like hours, following the same path, finally they came to a point where the tunnel forked in three directions. "This is pointless!" yelled Harry in frustration. "Do you have any idea where we're going, Snape?"

"What did I tell you?" Snape sighed, "No, I don't, Potter. No one has ever made it out of here alive. Before leaving Hogwarts, Slytherin sent four students, one from each house, into this room, in hopes of proving his student was the best."

"The others just let him do that?"

"Of course not, he did it without their knowledge. Anyway, none of them made it out alive. He was sure that his best student would make it out, but days passed without sign or word from any of the students."

'Sounds like something you'd do, you nasty old bat.' thought Harry, before he could stop himself. Snape's eyes narrowed, but he did not speak. The unlikely pair stood there in silence, finally Snape spoke. Slowly and painfully he said, "Which way do you suggest?"

Harry tried to look down each tunnel, but the darkness was so complete it was like staring into a bottle of ink. "We've been going right for ages and it doesn't seem to have helped us any, let's take the left tunnel."

"Fine."

They walked onward into the darkness for ten minutes. "Stop!" yelled Snape so suddenly that Harry nearly jumped out of his skin.

"What?" he hissed.

"Don't move." Snape said slowly and quietly. "There is an extremly agressive poisonous spider directly above your head, Potter. If you move another inch, he will bite." Snape reached his hand deftly out and snagged the spider from its web. "Their poison is strong enough to take down a man of Hagrid's size in three seconds." He crushed it, carefully avoiding its fangs. "Unfortuantely for the spider, their eyesight is fairly poor, unless of course, some fool smashes through their webbing."

"Thanks." said Harry, grudgingly. His eyes glinted with hatred towards Snape. 'How had he seen the spider in the first place? Even with my wand fully light I can't see more than two feet in front of me, let alone a tiny spider on the ceiling.' "This isn't working, Snape, we have to go back."

"What's the matter, Potter? Not as easy leading as you thought, is it?" The venom was back in Snape's voice as if he had somehow stolen it from the tiny spider's body.

They returned to the entrance of the left-hand tunnel. "There is an old muggle saying, Potter, 'the road less traveled', perhaps we should try that one, although, it is on the right, as you pointed out earlier."

Harry started off down the tunnel on the opposite side of the cavern, mumbling under his breath. Behind him he could hear Snape's footsteps catching up to him and the soft swishing of his robes dragging along the floor. Something seemed wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Suddenly, he heard Snape stop, "Do you hear that, boy?"

Harry strained to listen, "Hear what? I don't hear anything."

"That's my point. There is nothing, only silence, something is not right, we must go back, quickly."

"But you said-"

"Shh! Forget what I said, now go." There was an urgency in Snape's voice that frightened Harry, his potions teacher seldom let any emotion other than disdain in his voice.

Once they had returned to the mouth of the tunnel, Harry turned and looked into the darkness. A startled cry left his lips. "What's that?" he asked as he saw two large reflective eyes.

"I neither know, nor do I care to find out." said Snape quietly.

"But what if it follows us?" asked Harry in a quivering voice.

"Did you not see its eyes, Potter? They are made for complete darkness, if it were to come into this light, dismal as it may seem, it would be essentially blind. Honestly boy, what are your other teachers doing in your classes? Knitting? You should have learned that your first year in care of magical creatures."

Harry's eyes narrowed, Hagrid had been his first Care of Magical Creatures professor, Snape knew that. He also knew how attached the two were to one another. "It's late," started Harry, "I think, and I don't know about you, but I'm tired. Let's rest for a while. We can try the middle tunnel in the morning, or at least when we wake up."

"Fine." Snape replied simply and sat down against the wall.

Harry was so warn out from the wandering that he fell asleep almost the instant he laid his head down in his arms. When he finally awoke he found himself curled in a ball with a blanket around him, it took him a minute to remember where he was and what had happened. But where had he gotten the blanket from? He looked over to Snape who was sitting in the same spot as he had been before Harry had fallen alseep, but he had removed his cloak. Harry looked down at what he had thought was a blanket, it was Snape's cloak, he quickly threw it off himself and stood up. Snape didn't move, nor did he even open his eyes. "You were shivering. Are you rested enough?" He opened his eyes and looked at Harry, they were bloodshot and there were bags beneath them.

"Yes."

"Good," he stood and retreived his cloak, "let's go."

"Did you sleep, Snape?"

"Stop calling me that." he said in a tired voice, "I am still your potions master, even if we are stuck down here."

"Sorry." Harry noticed that Snape had avoided answering the question, but thought better of asking it again.

"I've been thinking, Potter, we do not have any food, nor any water. If we are to survive long enough to find our way out of here, we will need to find at least something to drink."

"Why don't we just use our wands?"

Snape stopped and looked at Harry, "Do you think me a fool, boy? Don't you think I tried that? Don't you think I tried to conjure a fire to keep warm by?" He paused and quieted his voice. "It seems the only magic we can use down here is lighting our wands to see in the dark, and even that is minimal."

"Oh."

"Yes, 'oh'." Snape started down the middle pathway. "At least the dark in here seems a bit less inpenetrable. Keep up."

"Professor?"

"What?"

"We've been walking for hours, I don't understand how come we haven't run into a wall or something."

"I told you, this room is bewitched. There is only one way out."

Harry's mouth was parched, he had no idea how long they had been walking, the tunnel just seemed to go on forever. "At least we aren't climbing uphill."

"That would probably be helpful, as it is we've been going deeper, I don't like this." Snape's voice sounded weary.

Harry stopped, "I can't keep this up. I'm so thirsty."

"Don't think about it, concentrate on something else."

"Like what?"

"Like the assignment due on Friday for my class."

"You're joking."

"Am I?"

"We're stuck down here and you expect me to think about a stupid essay?"

"Potter, none of my assignments have been stupid, just because you lack the intelligence to write a proper essay does not make them 'stupid'."

"We are going to die down here, Snape, and y-"

"Professor. Show a little respect, boy."

"You're mad."

Snape turned on him, "I am not mad, Potter, you are the one going on that we are going to die."

"You said it yourself, no one's ever made it out of here alive."

"True, however, you seem to have the devil's luck and I am far more confident in my abilities then those of four teenagers. Now, keep your mouth shut and follow me, I think I hear something up ahead."

Harry hated when Snape got the last word, but so far they had survived on his guidence, so he bit his tongue and they walked on in silence. At last, Snape spoke, "There are far worse things than death, Potter."

"What?"

"There are far worse things than dying."

"And how would you know that?"

"You know how. Or at least you think you do."

"When you work for Voldemort?"

"Worked. When I worked for him, yes. I've seen many terrible things, seen strong, brave men beg for death."

"And you obliged them." Harry said, his voice full of hatred.

"Sometimes."

After hours of walking, the sound Snape had heard was growing louder and clearer. Running water. Harry's mouth was dry and the sound teased him tremendously.

"Have you met Longbottom's parents?"

Harry thought back to the Christmas morning he spent at St. Mungo's with the Weasly family. "Yes."

"Yes. They weren't as fortunate as your parents."

Harry couldn't help himself, "Fortunate! My parents died! They died saving me!"

"Yes, but they died quickly. Lestrange made Neville's parents suffer, she wouldn't allow them to die for their son. You've felt the cruciatus curse, Potter, nasty isn't it?"

Harry could feel the tears burning his eyes, why was Snape tormenting him like this? He nodded.

"Yes, and I bet you begged for him to end it, at least in your head, you wouldn't have given him the satisfaction of hearing the words. So much like your father. Proud. Arrogant."

"Don't you talk about my father! He was a good man!"

"Oh, yes, he was wonderful." Snape turned and faced the boy. "He was a real saint, he and that mutt, Black." There was a glint of pure hatred in his eyes, but it wasn't directed at Harry.

"Shut up, _Snivellus_!"

Snape turned away from the boy, barely able to control his anger, "Obviously, you learned nothing about your father from the penseive. Tell me, Potter, if you remember that offensive name, surely you remember what I did to provoke him and his friends into that attack." Harry thought, Snape hadn't done anything. He hadn't said anything. "Well? As you may recall, when your mudblood mother asked him what I had done, I believe he replied, 'It's more the fact he exists.' A real charmer, James Potter was."

Harry wished his wand would work, he wanted so desperately to hurt Snape, to make him suffer for what he was saying. Snape didn't need to be a legilimens to know how Potter was feeling, he laughed lightly. "Still thirsty?" A look of confusion washed over Harry's face, then realization. He was trying to distract him from thinking about how thirsty he was. Snape had him so angry that he had quickened his pace without even noticing it, they had traveled much further than Harry would have thought possible. "We should come to a clearing soon, I expect."

Ten minutes later the tunnel started to open out above and around them. Snape smiled smugly to himself. In the middle of the clearing was a basin full to the brim of the clearest water Harry had ever seen. He ran to it, but just before he reached it, he felt a hand grab tightly onto his shoulder. "Don't be foolish. Do you not find it odd, that this water is so clean? Not to mention that it is here at all?" The thought hadn't occured to Harry, he was so excited at the prospect of water that all he could think of was wetting his lips and letting the cool liquid flow down his parched throat.

"You mean, it's poison?" He asked desperately.

"I don't know yet, I'll have to look at it first."

Snape inspected the bowl to the best of his ability, though without use of his wand there wasn't much he could tell. "I'll try some first." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a bezoar.

Harry licked his lips, the water looked so good, it wasn't fair that Snape should get the first drink. He didn't even look thirsty. "Let me have it."

"Potter, I can't be sure what this even is, let alone what it will do to me once I've drunk it." He sighed. "If after five minutes nothing has happened to me, then you may drink. Alright?"

Harry grudgingly agreed and Snape stepped up to the water again. He placed the bezoar in his mouth and cupped his hands. He put them into the water, 'Feels alright.' he thought and brought it to his lips. It was magnificent, cool and crisp, with just a hint of sweetness. 'This isn't water.' His mouth cried out for him to drink more but he stepped back. "Now we wait."

Harry nodded, but they didn't have to wait long, it was obvious something was happening to Snape. His head started to nod as if he were fighting to stay awake, and losing the fight. His knees buckled and he crumpled to the ground. Snape tried desperately to get back up, but it was useless. Whatever the liquid was meant to do, it had begun. Harry stepped back, Snape wasn't facing him, but even in the dim light he could see something was happeing to Snape's body. His clothes seemed to be getting bigger, he was almost swimming in them, the normally billowing robes engulfed him until he was nothing but a small lump in the middle. In the space of just two minutes Harry had witnessed his most feared teacher and most unlikely ally first pass out and then shrink.

"Professor?" he asked tenetively. The lump twitched. "Are you alright?"

A child of about six poked his head out of the robes, his black eyes glinted with intelligence and fear. The young boy struggled to get out of the mass of fabric ensnaring him, but he seemed to be just tangling himself even more.

Harry stood speechless. After a few seconds he closed in on the child, "Professor? Professor Snape?" The child looked up in shock at the teenager, his eyes narrowing at the sound of the name 'Snape'. He struggled even more to free himself from the robes. "Is that you?"

Finally the boy managed to free himself and he stood there in the middle of a sea of black fabric. Snape's black coat, still buttoned but askew, the only thing covering him, luckily, the hem of the coat hit the floor. The child's eyes burned with intensity and he backed slowly away from Harry. "Who are you? What do you want?" The boy looked around, "Where are we?"

"Professor," Harry started, thinking it was absurd to call an six year-old, 'professor'. "It's me, Harry, Harry Potter. I don't know what's happened to you, you drank that liquid and, well, I don't know."

The boy looked shrewdly at Harry, obviously thinking he was mad, then his already pale face blanched. "Oh no, I did it again! Daddy's going to be so mad!" The boy bend down and grabbed his knees, rocking himself back and forth. One tiny hand reached up and pulled on his stringy black hair. He looked desperately to Harry, "He said if I did it again, I'd be sorry. I'm a bad boy." Tears started to roll down his parchment white cheeks.

Harry was in shock, he didn't know what to say, didn't know what had even happened. 'I suppose it's a good thing I didn't drink that, if it made Snape this young, I'd have likely disappeared.' He slowly walked over to the child, "Hey, don't cry, it's ok." He reached a hand out to the child, the boy flinched.

"Please, don't hurt me."

"I'm not going to hurt you. Why do you think you're a bad boy?"

The child turned his eyes, now red-rimmed, up to face Harry. "Sometimes I make things happen, but I'm not supposed to. Daddy doesn't like it." He tugged at his hair again. "Where are we?"

"I'm not exactly sure, Professor."

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"You told-," he stopped. Snape obviously didn't know what was going on. "What would you like me to call you?"

"My name is Severus."

"Nice to meet you Severus. My name is Harry."

Severus yawned, his older counterpart hadn't slept the night before and it had an obvious effect on little Severus. "How do I get back home?"

"I don't know."

"Oh no. Daddy said I'm not supposed to leave my room, when he finds out I'm gone, I'm gonna be in big trouble." He pulled at his hair again.

Harry wasn't sure, but he had a feeling it had been a long time since Snape's father had told him to do anything. "Don't worry about that now, ok? We need to find a way out of here. Then we can find out what happened to you."

The little boy bit his lip and nodded his head. 'What on earth am I going to do now?' thought Harry to himself. He fiddled with his wand absentmindedly.

"What's that?" asked Severus, his eyes wide.

"Huh? Oh it's my wand."

"What's a wand for?"

Didn't this kid know anything? "It's for magic, you know, like when you make things happen, wands help with that kind of stuff."

"Oh, you can make stuff happen too?" he asked, his dark eyes sparkling, clearly interested. "Can you show me? Sometimes, when Daddy isn't home, Mommy makes my toys dance for me."

"I can't right now, it's sort of broken."

Severus' shoulders slumped, "Oh, did your Daddy break it?"

'What is this kid's thing about Daddies?' "No, it'll work again when we get out of here. I can make it glow a little, would you like to see that?"

"Yeah!"

Harry said "Lumos." and his wand instantly started to glow softly.

"Wow, that's neat!" said Severus with a smile. Harry couldn't help but smile himself, imagine Snape smiling at something as simple as that, or smiling at all for that matter. Usually he just sneers if anything.

"We should get going." Harry grabbed the cloak off of the ground. He heard a soft thud as Snape's wand fell. "Hey Severus, you want your own wand?"

The boy's eyes lit up, but then his face fell. "Daddy wouldn't like that."

"I won't tell him if you won't."

"Promise?"

"Yep."

Severus snatched the wand from Harry's hand and hugged him, Harry couldn't help but cringe. The boy then held his wand out as he had seen Harry do and cried "Lumos!" The tip of the wand glowed brightly and Severus giggled in delight. "Look Harry! Look what I did!"

Harry laughed to himself, 'I've just taught Snape something and he still outdoes me, at least he didn't realize it.' "That's great, kid. C'mon, we gotta get going."

The two walked past the basin, Harry's thirst forgotten for the moment and into the darkness.

"Harry, I don't like the dark."

Harry raised an eyebrow, he had seen Snape walking around in the dark so many times, it was funny that as a child Snape would be afraid of it. "Remember what we did with our wands? Just do that again and you can see, ok?" 'I wonder what he would say if I told him his office is in the dungeon?'

"Ok. Lumos." The wand glowed again, but this time Harry could see it was shaking slightly.

Harry turned to look down a tunnel forking off to the left. He jumped when something brushed against his hand. Looking down he saw that inside his own hand, a tiny one had snaked its way in, and was grasping surprisingly tightly to his fingers. "Scared?" He wanted to take some pleasure from this situation, but when he looked into Severus' face and saw the terror there, he couldn't.

Severus tried to look brave, he puffed out his chest and a very familiar defiance came to his hawklike features, but his body was trembling against Harry.

Time passed very slowly, and Severus started to fall behind. "Harry, my feet hurt and I'm tired." The little boy yawned again and staggered. "I'm really hungry, too. When can we go home?"

"Pretty soon." lied Harry, "Why don't we sit down and take a rest?"

The words were barely out of Harry's mouth when Severus slumped down against the wall. Harry looked over at the boy, his feet were a mess. When Snape changed, his clothes had remained adult sized, including his shoes. So little Severus had to walk through the tunnel without any shoes, at some point he had lost a sock and now he took the other one off, casting it into a corner. His stomach rumbled. "I'm hungry."

"I know, we'll be home soon. Why don't you think of something else?"

"Like what?"

"Well, what do you like to do at home? Do you play games with your friends?"

The boy bowed his head, "I don't have any friends."

"Oh," Harry had always thought that much was true, but seeing Snape as a six year old had made him forget some of his grudge towards the man. "Well, what do you do then?"

"I like to read. And I help Mommy mix her special drinks."

Harry raised an eyebrow, was he talking about potions? "What goes into these drinks?"

"Slimy stuff and powders, but you have to be careful." He said seriously, "One time, I accidentally knocked in some blue stuff and all this smoke started to fill the room, then Daddy came home and..." he trailed off.

"And what?" asked Harry curiously.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore." Severus crawled across to where Harry was sitting and sat on his lap. Harry sat as still as a statue while the little boy rubbed his eyes and yawned again, then he fell asleep.

Harry sat there motionless, looking at the child asleep in his lap. Not wanting Severus Snape on his lap, and yet not wanting to throw the little boy off, he pulled the cloak around the two of them and leaned his head back against the wall.

Harry awoke sometime later. He looked at Snape, he was still sleeping, but had curled himself into a ball beside Harry. He brushed some of the black hair off of the child's face. 'He looks so tired.' thought Harry. 'I hate to wake him up, but we need to find food and water.' Harry sat there for another few minutes, he looked down at Severus' feet, they were bloody. 'Poor kid.' He never imagined himself feeling bad for Snape, but this was too much. Afterall, he was just a child.

Harry stood up and streched, then he lifted the sleeping boy into his arms and started down the tunnel again, 'At least it's getting lighter.' He carried Severus for about an hour before he woke up. His thick eyelashes fluttered and his dark eyes immediately found Harry's.

"Harry? Put me down, I can walk. I'm not tired anymore."

Harry put the boy down and saw his face contort in pain as he tried to walk. "Are you ok, Severus?"

"I'm fine." He lied as he limped beside Harry.

"Do you want me to carry you?"

Severus looked at Harry, he stared into his eyes, "No, I'm too heavy."

"No, you aren't."

"Don't lie, I know you're tired too. I think we're almost out of here now anyway."

"I'm not lying."

"Yes you are, I can tell."

Harry wondered if even at this age Snape was already a legilimens. "Okay, if you're sure."

"I am." He said as he hobbled ahead of Harry. "Lumos!" The tip of Snape's wand shone brighter than ever.

"I think you're right about almost being out of here."

They walked on for another hour until they came to one last fork in the tunnel. "Not another one." Harry said. He felt a cool breeze coming from the tunnel on the left. "Finally." He started down the tunnel, but Severus grabbed his hand.

"Not that one."

"What do you mean? Don't you feel the breeze?"

Snape shook his head, "Something isn't right about it, there's something bad down that way, Harry."

"No there isn't, c'mon."

But Severus wouldn't move. "We should take the right tunnel."

Harry narrowed his eyes, as far as he could tell the only difference between the two paths was the breeze. "I think-" But before he could finish Severus had started down the right tunnel. "Hey! Come back here!"

"This is the way out Harry, I can feel it. Can't you feel it?"

He could feel something, the air was less stagnant in this tunnel. And it was getting lighter. He caught up with Severus, just as they reached the end of the tunnel. There was a doorway here. "Are you ready?" Severus grabbed Harry's hand and grasped the wand tightly, it shore brighter than ever. He nodded. "On the count of three. One, two, three." Harry pushed the door open, light filled the tunnel as he and Severus stepped out.

"Molly, I assure you, Seve-" started Dumbledore, but before he could finish, a bright light flashed to his left.

He, Molly Weasly, and Minerva McGonagall looked to the portrait where the flash had come from. To their amazement, there stood Harry, and a dark haired little boy.

"Harry! Thank goodness you're safe!" cried Molly as she ran towards him. The little boy let go of Harry's hand and crouched behind his legs, tightly grasping his wand and Harry's pant legs, and poking his head out around to see what was going on.

"Hi, Mrs. Weasly." Harry was somehow able to choke out while Molly hugged him tight.

"Harry, how on earth did you get here?" asked Professor Dumbledore.

"And who's that?" asked Professor McGonagall.

Having been spotted Severus ducked back behind Harry's legs and trembled. "It's ok, Severus, these are my friends."

"Severus?" The three asked in unison. "You don't mean..." continued McGonagall.

Harry nodded his head, "It's a long story, Professor, but first can we have some food and water?"

"Of course, Harry." replied Dumbledore, "It's lunchtime down in the great hall. Are you hungry, Severus?"

The little boy trembled when the old man spoke to him, "Yes, sir." he said quietly, pulling at his hair.

Dumbledore smiled, clapped Harry's back and ruffled Snape's hair. "Come, come, let's not dawdle, these growing boys need to eat."

Harry took Severus' hand, it was begining to feel like second nature to Harry by now and they led the way down to the great hall. Snape's eyes were wide as they passed the portaits in the hall that moved and talked and he went even more pallid when he saw Nearly Headless Nick the first time. Most of the students had finished lunch when they arrived in the great hall, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were just getting ready to leave when they spotted Harry.

"Harry!" cried Ginny as she embraced him, and if not for her mother being there she would have kissed him. Severus flew behind Harry once more, as Hermione hugged him as well.

"Where've you been?" asked Ron, "And who's that?"

The small boy tugged at his hair. "We'll explain it later, right now we're starving. C'mon." Severus took Harry's hand again and they sat at the Gryffindor table. Harry poured Snape some pumpkin juice and placed a tuna sandwich on the plate in front of him. Severus smiled happily up at Harry and started munching away on the food. Harry smiled wearily back down at him and took a sandwich and some juice for himself.

Minerva, Molly and Dumbledore sat patiently as the boys ate. Once he had his fill, Harry pushed his plate aside and looked down at Severus.

"Well?" asked Hermione, impatiently.

"Huh?"

"You care to tell us where you've been for the past three days?"

"Three days?"

"Yes, you and Snape went missing three days ago."

The dark haired boy looked up at the mention of his name. "Oh, no Harry, three days? Daddy's going to be so mad." He tugged at his hair.

"Shh, everything's ok, don't worry." He smiled at the boy again.

"Lumos." he whispered and the tip of his wand glowed faintly under the table. Harry winked down at him.

Dumbledore spoke up, "Why don't you tell us what happened from the begining Harry."

"Ok, Professor. I was walking down the hall, three days ago appearently, and I saw Professor Snape coming." Harry blushed. "I had said something at the end of his class, and I figured he was looking for me, so I turned the corner and started running. I could hear him following me, then he turned the corner and called my name. I turned around, but when I did, I tripped and fell agaisnt the wall, and then through it. I was laying on a dirt floor somewhere, but before I could even get up, he followed after me."

Severus swung his feet under the table as he listened to the story. "Harry?" he asked, "Where's the ceiling?"

"Huh?" Harry looked up. It looked like a bright blue sky was the only thing above them. "Oh, it's there, it's just magic, Severus, like when we use our wands."

"Oh, that's neat."

Harry continued his story without further interuptions. "And then we ended up in your office, sir."

Dumbledore nodded his head. He looked from Harry to Severus, who was now playing under the table with his wand, "Lumos." The novelty of making the tip glow, had not worn off yet.

"Severus." Dumbledore said softly. Two black eyes looked out from under the table at him, he grabbed Harry's leg again, but answered, "Yes sir?"

"I'd like you to come with me to see Madam Pomfrey, the nurse."

"But, I want to stay with Harry."

"Harry will be coming along as well."

Severus looked up at Harry, "Ok." He climbed out from under the table and sat on Harry's lap. Ron nearly choked on his pumpkin juice. Severus looked at him questioningly, the hair falling in his eyes. Hermione and Ginny couldn't help but smile. As an adult, Snape struck terror into the hearts of his students, but as a six year old, be was absolutely adorable.

After a thorough examination, Madam Pomfrey said both the boys were perfectly healthy, especially the little one. She applied some salve to his feet and the cuts vanished almost instantly. He wriggled his toes. "I like magic, Harry."

"Me too."

Professor Dumbledore took Madam Pomfrey aside, leaving Harry and Severus to sit and wait. "Poppy, what do you suggest we do for Severus? We can't just leave him like this."

"That's too bad, I much prefer him this way. I know, I know, I'm only joking." She thought for a moment. "I've got it, do you remember, a few years ago, one of the sixth years accidentally made herself twelve again?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Well, Severus made a batch of aging potion for me. I still have some left. I just need some of his blood to put in it so he returns to the correct age."

"Excellent, Poppy."

The little boy screamed and tried to climb behind Harry. "Now, Severus, don't you want to get better? We need a tiny drop of blood for this potion to work." said Madam Pomfrey in a calm voice.

"No! I don't like magic anymore. I just want to go home. Harry help me." He looked pleadingly up at Harry, his dark eyes welling up with tears.

"Severus!" Harry shouted, the little boy stopped squirming. "Look at me." Severus looked into Harry's eyes. "I want you to hold still and let Madam Pomfrey draw some blood."

"But-"

"No, buts. Just hold still." Snape sat still on the bed, Pomfrey came over to him with a needle.

Severus buried his head in Harry's chest and stuck out his hand for Madam Pomfrey. His arm was shaking. She stuck his finger and let a few drops of blood drip into the potion. "There, all done. Now, was that so bad?"

He looked at her quickly, stuck his finger in his mouth and buried his head back against Harry. "I guess so." answered Harry, and Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes.

Five minutes later she made Snape drink the potion. "At least that was easy. He made it sweet so that patients wouldn't be so adverse to drinking it." She looked over at the dark haired boy. "It'll take about an hour before it kicks in."

"Harry, will you stay with me?"

"Sure." He sat down in a chair beside the bed. Severus reached over and slipped his hand into Harry's again.

Both boys yawned and Severus laid his head back on the pillow, closing his eyes.

"Sweet dreams." said Harry as he closed his own eyes and fell asleep, still holding Severus' hand.

"What in God's name are you doing, Potter!" roared Snape, pulling his hand away.

Harry was barely awake, "Huh? Severus?" He looked at the bed and saw instead of the six year old, the adult Snape.

"What did you call me, Potter!"

Harry sighed, "I'm sorry sir."

"What are we doing here? Why were you holding my hand?" asked Snape, his eyes narrowing.

"You asked me to."

"What are you-" Memories washed over Snape, when he first transformed back into his adult self, he had no recollection of what had happened since he drank from the basin, but now, everything was coming back to him. He blushed slightly. "I see. Well, yes."

Madam Pomfrey came over, evidently wondering who was screaming, then she saw Snape. "I didn't hurt you that badly, did I?" she gloated.

The old familiar sneer spread across Snape's face and he started to get up to leave for his dungeons. "Where are my pants!"

Harry smirked as he walked out of the hospital wing. 'I'm gonna miss that kid.' he thought as he headed for his dorm and nice warm bed.

"Potter, I want to speak with you."

"Yes sir?"

Snape stared at Harry. "When I was, transformed," he was obviously having trouble with this, "thank you." he finally murmured.

"Sir?"

"I said 'thank you', Potter. I know things were, difficult, down there, so, thank you."

Harry smiled, "It's ok, you were a cute kid."

"OUT!" Snape roared. He blushed bright red, remembering full well everything he had told Harry, not that it was anyone's fault. For the time, Severus was a six year old, with the same fears and emotions he had the first time around. He hadn't heard any gossip going around about the whole ordeal, that was good at least. And Potter seemed about as eager to tell the story as he was.

Snape sighed, looked at his wand and smiled, "Lumos."

The End.


End file.
